Strandline Resources Limited is preparing to commence the next phase of air-core drilling at the Sudi mineral sands project in Southern Tanzania, alongside Joint Venture partner Rio Tinto Mining & Exploration Limited.
The Sudi project is located 30 kilometres by sealed road from the port and city infrastructure of Mtwara in southeastern Tanzania. Under the terms of the Joint Venture, Rio Tinto is funding the exploration programme at Sudi, with the exploration itself being conducted by Strandline.
In March this year, Strandline announced that drilling at Sudi returned thick intervals of heavy mineral sands along an 8-kilometre anomaly, with these intervals ranging between 2 and 4 per cent Total Heavy Mineral (THM) and widespread lower grade mineralisation between 1 and 2 per cent THM.
Laboratory analysis of Sudi drill hole composite samples revealed a high unit-value mineral assemblage averaging 16.2 per cent combined zircon and rutile alongside approximately 64.4 per cent ilmenite.
The JV was recently granted by the Tanzanian Mining Commission, a suite of prospective tenements near Sudi which form the primary focus of the JV’s next drilling program. They are required to formally accept the Notification of Grant and pay a statutory fee within 28 days, which is already underway.
To account for the length of the proposed program, Rio Tinto and Strandline have agreed to formally extend the contracted milestone date to complete this phase of exploration from December 2018 to August 2019.
In an announcement this morning, Strandline Managing Director, Luke Graham, said that securing the new strategic and highly prospective tenements adjacent to the Sudi discovery provides an exciting exploration proposition for the JV.
“It is clear that Sudi has strong potential to add substantial value to the company’s mineral sands asset base and this next program is important to identify the scale of the mineralised system,” Mr Graham said.
More information on Strandline’s Tanzania activities can be found here.